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Rating: 
Summary: 5 Stars For Enlightened Usefulness
Review: I first read America Now in 1985. It was required reading for a college course. I continue to revisit my now worn copy as a touchstone. I have loaned it to several friends after intense discussions. Harris provides a quick and enjoyable reading. The book helps us to understand the highly complex and perplexing situations of today's society. The book should be on everyone's desk at work or nightstand at home. It helps to keep one grounded in thinking straight about controversial issues. That brings to mind another required reading from college that I would recommend be revisited often, "Guides To Straight Thinking" by Stuart Chase. Both of these books can do a lot to restore reason and civility to social discourse.
Rating: 
Summary: Did the other readers read the same book?
Review: I read "Why Nothing Works" quite a few years ago. I seem to remember that Harris blamed the rise in crime then happening to women moving into the workforce. According to Harris, women were pushing white men into other jobs, and that movement was pushing black men out of the workforce. As a result, black males were venting their frustration by committing crimes. At the end of that chapter, Harris gave American women a blunt choice: stay home like a good little housewife, or go out and be mugged or raped.Some of his other insights were interesting, but the above theory really stuck in my craw. And when the crime rate plummeted in the '90s, when more women were in the workforce than ever before, it was proven completely wrong. It's the people who commit crimes that are responsible for them. Punishing such people, not blaming women, is what made the streets safer. I wonder if the reviewer above who claimed this book does not blame blacks or women for America's problems read the same book that I did.
Rating:
Summary: Did the other readers read the same book?
Review: I read "Why Nothing Works" quite a few years ago. I seem to remember that Harris blamed the rise in crime then happening to women moving into the workforce. According to Harris, women were pushing white men into other jobs, and that movement was pushing black men out of the workforce. As a result, black males were venting their frustration by committing crimes. At the end of that chapter, Harris gave American women a blunt choice: stay home like a good little housewife, or go out and be mugged or raped. Some of his other insights were interesting, but the above theory really stuck in my craw. And when the crime rate plummeted in the '90s, when more women were in the workforce than ever before, it was proven completely wrong. It's the people who commit crimes that are responsible for them. Punishing such people, not blaming women, is what made the streets safer. I wonder if the reviewer above who claimed this book does not blame blacks or women for America's problems read the same book that I did.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible anthropology
Review: This book is fantastic. In this book Harris reconciles seemingly unrelated cultural phenomena into a highly provocative and highly readable thesis. He delves deep into the structure of societal trends ,tackling the most pervasive. Inspired by his careful examination , this book has caused me to probe deeper into the causality of our age.
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